Hosiery and method of producing same



June 29, 1948. MARSLAND I 2,444,403

HOSIERY AND METHOD OF PRODUCING SAME Filed Sept. 19, 1945 Patented June 29, 1948 2344:403 HO'SIERY XNIPMETHOUOFTRUDUCING" SAME' Hows-rd: Marslmd; Northfield," vm, assignomi' go; Vermont Hosiery and 4 Machinery 00., North?! 1 field, VtL, ancorpomtibn of Vermont.

Application SptemlibblS, 194% Serial No; 617,351

I 8 Glaims. (Cl. (i -187 This invention: relates: to hoisiem andkis 1 more" especially concemiedwwith: hosiery; of i the type! adapted: to be" manufactured in circulan hosieryr knittingq: machines.

As is-We11 understood-mythse=ski1led in this art; the 1 customary method ofp-roducing a hee1 poeketw in an machine of' this: type; is: to stop cirting-i is." started; The nextstepis: to: narrow in theordinam wa-y -on, say, 12 mediuxmbutt needles onveach side outs 01a. total of 23 -per side This! brings theknitting operation down to thepoint B.

N ext, 7 all of the needlesdn-rthesrean halfkof the cylinder are returnedsimultaneouslyinto aetiom and. knitting is resumed while nem'arowings for: cular knitting when the point; has-beem reached? eight coursesavtha-tds, four needles-on eaohnside'. ah whichtheformatiomof themeel pocket is to This completesv the narrowing? p a n P berbegun an-d then to resumerknitting;;with221p duces the section of fabric indicatedeh C and proximately therfront half. of: the eedles, out fi? bring s the-knitting operation dolwmto the :pointi-D. action. The:knittingathroughout"theheehtheres" At thisxtime IQFn'eedIes 0x1 each side areiplltk aiters is produced entinely by reciprocating mo= out of.-= opera/tier! simultan ws y andreciprflca? tion; the'fabmmheing progressively narrowedztm ins fis-again be ,--p oc e i =from the as predetermined: point. and then progressively 15 pointErbut:bringing=.intheseneedles one ati-a," widenedto produeethe-pocket. Whilethismeth time: so as to widen the fabric? progressively. odxlss almost aseoid a s cimulafi knitting-.machines Usua-Hw this-is done by l ow the t s 0 themselvesgit is well=recognized thatzit 'does not pi ke s t0-c0ntinuetowork smthat oneneedle produceas smooth?" a. heel: as is? desired: The will be raise-d-ou-t -ofaction 0n ODESide ai the diagonal sutures formedduringzthe:reciprocab cylinder'whi'lethedropper drops-W0needles back ing knitting restrict 1. limit: thgelasticitygof:the' into ELCtiOH on the other side, the netzresult beingf fabri andftendw tolea-m poinbsghsom'etimes rethat oneneedleisbrought in-to:actionat each fared-teasdogmarsfi atfithefilowel' endskof thy reciprocation; first-on one side and'then on-the sutures; 0.51mi, When'l8 of the 23-need1esprevious1y put- The present invention: a ims-- tyimprbve'; both? 25 out ofsaction on each=side have been returned th method'srof! knitting heel pockets? and:- also: to knitting, then therremainingfi needlesmn eachi the struetureof this portionxof a stocking-with side are lbrought into actiomsimultaneously and; a; i wboth w-pmdueingmubetteiw fibtingheehaindi circular! knitting is-=resumed.- Duringwthe widenaisoi reducing theexpense'o-f manufecture 'ofathisv ing ope b n just e i e Which Starts paxtxof'fthe stocking; 3Wtherpoinb E, the heel pocket-4 is completed: and The znaturei-ofz-the-inventionzwillzberundersmodv' thereafter. the foot and toe may be produced@ fi'om'z the descriptlonmof the-adra wings' andidiscus in -the;o1tth0d0xvmanner\ siomrelatingjithereto; It-w111 be observed that the narrowing. of the In the drawings: fabrichas proceededb in two steps; duringthe: Fig; L: 155w as per p ctivgview illu trating dzi- 5; first of L which the suture 1ine Ar--B- hasbeans agrammatieailm the 1 foot: and; a portion of? thez-r formed,-,while-.infithe second-step, a second-suture r leg; of acrJc-ircular: knit stocking embodying' the line A-D is produced; both ofw theselinesextend a pnesentdnvention and ing' downwardly and rearward-1y! from .thel normal Fig: 2,1 ay side." View; also diagrammatic; .illusnarrowing. point. A2 The remaining suture line: trashing on largenscalectheestepspmormediiin: 4G31D-E starts at-theend Of the-secondsuture line produeingiwh'eelrpocketiin accordance with" this andiextendsdownwardly and rea -rwardly but isa i venti n-. 4 N :a l',tie1'np1y,'haisibeen: made in: this? curved somewhat .so that-itsultimatelyterminates finre te shom ,excepfiimatvery ggnerafl wam. th r at=a pointwhieh in the particular stockingyshowm, nmnber' 12%? direction; of; either? the: courses-z ofi is-I roughly ins line? with the suture line Ar-B. knmsing: orthe*wa;lesr-pr0diwedi during 'tmssoperz A lly when-= the Wi ening steps proceedvas-farf atium. as indicated in Figs. 1 and :.2; the rearward: end? portion of the line- 'willbe intersected by an" extensiom ofthe line ABu It will also be: observed that while thenarrows 42'shor1; butt-. needleseihz theerea rhazlf'iandiai' tots}? ing operation-has-bsen: performed: in: two stepsgu utr'rafiilong 'buttineedles'in thesifontzhaif; thei'lnitting operation: proceedsi in the usual manner" toivtha'e' pointflAiwherathefiormatiorr of-"th'efi heel? packet; is 1 begun Then the front? needles:

producing sutures-which are relativelyfshort the? widening; operation: has been: produced im ones continuousestep-end =the sutliredineD- -E formed during that step is longen'than eithen ofthe othel? twof suture lines but is not-as:1ong=:as the single diagonal suture line produced in the orthodox method of making heel pockets.

The resulting heel fabric consists of an upper gore, theforward edge of which is bounded \by the line A-B, a lower gore the upper edge of which terminates at the line A-D-E, and an intermediate fabric section extending around the back of the heel and terminating at each side of the stocking in a tapered end portion bounded by lines A-B, A-D, and D-l1l. has a fixed number of courses throughcyutits length but these courses are gradually shortened from top to bottom.

In the upper gore the wales run approximately vertical, or at right angles to the generally horizontal courses indicated roughlyby the lines a and b. These are, respectively, the first and last courses in this gore section. But throughout the intermediate section the direction of the wales vary considerably, those in the rear portion being nearly at right angles to the top and bottom courses b and 0, while those nearer the tapered end sections take on more and more of a curve parallel to the wales in the sides of the ankle section. In the lower gore, lying roughly between theline e, and the points D, E, and the line c, Fig. l, the wales run nearly parallel to the outline of this part of the heel itself,crossing both the lines o and e in directions at nearly right angles to them.

It has been found in actual practice that such a pocket construction provides a better fitting heel and, what is also important from the standpoint of production costs, a heel which can be produced with a smaller number of needles in actual operation, and, consequently, a smaller number of courses of knitting. In the example above given, the total number of courses in the heel is 24 in the upper gore, 8 in the intermediate section, and 36 in the lower gore, or a total of 68 courses, which is 28 less than would have been required if the heel had been produced in the customary manner with 24 needles on each side, thus making 96 courses. This saving in the number of courses of reciprocating knitting is im portant because the relatively large amount'of reciprocating knitting required in the production of a stocking is an important item of cost, since it is much slower than circular knitting.

While I have herein shown and described a typical stocking construction embodying my invention, and a preferred-method of producing it, it will be understood that some variations in both the method and the product may be made without departing from This section" the spirit or scope of the 7 ing claim 1 in which said lower invention. For example, the number of courses I in each of the three sections of the heel can be varied within reasonable limits. while still pro-' ducing satisfactory results. It is preferable, however, to make the number of courses in the section=C at least four, and not more than ten. Also, the number of courses in the upper and lower gores can be varied. In general, it is preferable to make the number in the upper gore from about one-half to three-quarters of the number in the lower gore.

This stocking can be produced in any of the better known commercial circular hosiery knitting machines and the adjustments and set-up of any of these machines necessary to produce this stocking will be obvious to those skilled in the use and manipulation of these machines.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim as new'is:

:1.- A circularknit stocking having a heel pocket section of knitted fabric 4 provided with two suture lines extending downwardly and backwardly one above the other, at each side of the heel and a gusset connecting said suture lines and terminating at each side of the stocking in a third suture line connecting the forward ends of the first two suture lines, the lower of said first two suture lines being much longer than the upper and both being longer than the third suture line.

i 2. A circular knit stocking according to preceding claim 1 in which said gusset contains from two to ten courses.

3. A circular knit stocking'according to preceddiagonal suture line is curved upwardly so that its rearward end portion intersects an extension of the upper suture line.

4. A circular knit stocking having a heel pocket provided at each side thereof with two suture lines starting substantially at the normal narrowing point at the opposite sides of the stocking and extending downwardly and rearwardly in diverging directions, and a third suture line extending from the end of the lower of the first two suture lines and running downwardly and rearwardly to a point below and behind the first suture line and terminating approximately in line with said first suture line.

5. A circular knit stocking having a heel pocket provided on each side thereof with two suture lines positioned one above the other and both extending downwardly and rearwardly, the upper of said lines starting substantially at the normal narrowing point, an intermediate narrow connecting said suture lines and extending around the back of the heel but terminating at its opposite ends in a suture line connecting the forward ends of the two first mentioned suture lines, said narrow strip of fabric being composed of courses which decrease in length from top to bottom.

6. A circular knit stocking having a heel pocket comprising a short gore section terminating at.

its forward end in a suture line which extends downwardly and backwardly from approximately the normal narrowing point, a second gore section containing a considerably larger number oi: courses than the first mentioned gore section, one of the tapered edges of the second gore section being a suture line located below the first mentioned suture line and much longer than the first line, and an intermediate gusset section knitted to both said suture lines and extending around the back of the heel.

7. That improvement in methods of knitting hosiery in a circular knitting machine, comprising the steps of knitting downwardly to the narrowing point of the heel and then narrowing in a-normal manner for a substantial distance and thereby producing an upper gore section of the heel, next knitting in a short intermediate section; the first course of which has approximately the same number of stitches as the widest part of said upper gore section and is united to the lower edge of the latter section, narrowing said intermediate section as the knitting operation progresses, and thereafter producing, by reciprocating knitting, a gradually widened lower gore section, the upper edge of which is knit to the lower edge of said intermediate section.

8. That improvement in methods of knitting hosiery in a circular knitting machine, comprising the steps ofknitting downwardly to the narrowing point of the heel and then narrowing in anormal manner untila goreforming somewhat more than half of the total narrowed section of the heel has been produced, then knitting in a short intermediate section of between four and ten progressively shortened courses starting with the maximum number of stitches in the widest part of said gore section initially produced, and thereafter continuing reciprocating knitting while increasing the number of stitches in successive courses to produce a gradually widened lower gore completing the heel section.

HOWARD MARSLAND.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

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